An Employer’s Job Seeker Wish List – 8/5/2014

Below are five things to communicate to an employer that will convince them you’re a great hire.

United States hiring is on a continued upswing, and healthcare is still near the head of the pack. Data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the nation’s unemployment rate edged down to 6.1 percent in June with the addition of 288,000 jobs. Healthcare organizations—from hospitals and ambulatory health services to nursing homes and residential care facilities—were responsible for 21,000 of those positions—indicating it’s a great time to apply for new employment within the industry. If you’re ready to take the next step in your healthcare career, consider these tips to ensure you can satisfy every employer’s job seeker wish list.

1. Know your industry and market—and be ready to talk about it.

Your main reason for working may be the paycheck, but employers want to hire healthcare professionals who are passionate about the way they earn those dollars. Whether you’re applying for a medical coder job or a family medicine physician position, spend a few hours reading up on industry news, familiarizing yourself with the latest healthcare trends, identifying the major players in your local market, and learning everything you can about your potential employer. Commit a dozen or more of the details Google unearths to memory, and prepare to dazzle the hiring manager at your next interview.

2. Polish your application materials.

The devil—or in this case, the job offer—is in the details. Submit a generic cover letter or resume with spelling and grammatical errors and you’re only wasting your time. On the other hand, polished application materials indicate you have taken the healthcare job opportunity seriously and are worth a deeper look. Whether you want to further your career as a clinical dietician or a case manager, you must customize your cover letter and resume for the employer and position, proofread it carefully and—for best results—get a second or even third opinion on the effectiveness of your written presentation.

3. Understand your big-picture role—and be ready to describe it.

A lab associate job is more than a list of patient test-related tasks. It’s an essential cog in a well-oiled healthcare machine. Whether you’re a medical assistant or a contract administrator, think about the ways in which your daily responsibilities affect the organization as a whole. How does the execution of your duties relate to the larger mission of the establishment? Once you have an answer, your response to “What did you do at hospital X?” will be much more impressive. For example, you’re not just “obtaining blood samples from patients.” You’re “Ensuring the quality of patient diagnosis and treatment through venipuncture.”

4. Practice telling the right stories.

Behavioral interview questions are increasingly common. While you can’t prepare a response to every “Tell me about a time…” or “What would you do if…” query, you can focus in on those that a healthcare employer is most likely to ask by considering the job from his or her perspective. What skills are most important in an operating room RN job? The answer may be effective listening, critical thinking, decisive judgment, and self-direction. What situations would indicate a candidate has those skills? You can then prepare stories that address the situations and skills you’ve identified.

5. Above all, be honest.

Whether you prefer to not talk about why you left your last position or want to keep your former salary a secret because you fear it will hamper negotiations, any response that is less than truthful—even if not outright dishonest—can come back to hurt you. For example, most healthcare employers will check in with your past supervisors in addition to running a comprehensive background check. They’ll find out why you left, if you gave appropriate notice and what you earned in addition to where you obtained your education and credentials. If the information you provided does not match that uncovered, the employer will question your motives for subterfuge. That almost always negatively impacts the hiring decision.